Durham and the `Wall`.

[Willow Man]

Ok......I have just been down Durham City and there is a total ban on rod fishing on the `Wall`. (Framwellgate Waterside)
This includes fly and spinning along with any other use of a rod!
The fine if caught is £1000!

It was a great place for disabled anglers to fish as you could park next to where you were fishing.
It was also a great place for parents to bring the young ones to fish without the need to walk miles.

On a plus side it will reduce the poaching of salmon and sea trout.
The only down side is all those who fished the wall will now end up on the `Free stretch` in the few good pools that are there!

Oh and as we speak the river is up and there are fish running on the said stretch with a nice grilse being caught on the spinner.

Cheers WM

[tyneandrew]

springer said:

Its a shame for the decent anglers but Im sure you know only to well that the reason is to protect the fish from the gauntlet of snatchers.

A small price to pay to hopefully stop such carnage.

I just wonder where those undesirables will find to ply their trade now

I think your right Alan, what will they do now they have lost that bit???

[Taddy]

its nothing to do with how many fish are being illegally caught!
more to do with public safety,they is a hotel being built right behind where everyone fishes,so im sure the last thing the local council want to see is "fishermen" casting "The big rod" armed with lead core and a treble!!!

I think it was last year when one of the said anglers hit a car windscreen and broke it! he paid for a new one but,it could have been someones eye which is ireplaceable.


quote

Its a shame for the decent anglers but Im sure you know only to well that the reason is to protect the fish from the gauntlet of snatchers.

A small price to pay to hopefully stop such carnage.

I just wonder where those undesirables will find to ply their trade now

to be honest ive only met about two decent anglers in 27 years of fishing at Durham,so it aint that much of a shame!

what a lot of folk dont seem to realise is that when the fish are "running the gauntlet" sometimes the said fishermen dont even catch one never mind sack fulls as a lot of small minded people seem to think.

Where will they go? (A)-probly the other side of the river,fairly obveous that one,they will go to the sands section,kepeir farm/the steaks and beyond.
It will however whittle out the boys from the men as some will chuck the towel in so to speak,reasons old men wont want to walk up and down the river in pursuit of fish,some will some wont.
the other half of the crowd will im sure hit the Tyne,Wylam,Hagg bank,Hexham etc....Wylam pool being the favoured area for a lot of Durham "anglers".

The Wear is unlike the Tyne in that on the Wear they is only a handfull of places to practise snatching successfully,but the Tyne can be fished from the tide to the very upper reaches with outstanding results as far as poaching goes.

But still a shame for "The Wall" to be closed

Its a bit late in my opinion they should have closed it back in the 80s when snatching was proper rife,the damage is done now its to late,but lets wait and see if they will be a difference in fish counts!! i remember one of the E/A thinking that indevidual "fishermen" on the wall takeing as many as a 1,000 fish a week----hahaha what a laughing stock he was,dont even think they take a 1,000 a year never mind a week, but that was his small minded estimate.

So now the wall is closed and all those bad men who snatch fish will be reduced hopefully,may be they can concentrate on those anglers who think course fish should be "Killed" as they are said to be nusence fish,many game anglers still practise killing Pike,Chub,Barbel etc.....so hopefully the E/A will move on and take control of the real criminals who kill fish for fun,its not like they makeing a liveing out of it! whos worse the snatchers who kill for a liveing or fly anglers who kill for no reason?


Undesireables include:-Police officers both uniform and higher ranking police men! firemen of extremly high rank,phorensic police men,univercity lectures,magestrates,at least two crown court judges-quite famous ones too! in there own right,doctors (NHS), school teachers,council officials,probation officers,social workers,as well as real criminals who burgle houses,theives,drug dealers,armed robbers or and Deer poachers,not to mention the odd authour here and there who write books on how to fish for Salmon and Sea Trout with a "Fly Rod". yes undesireables the river dont need these type of people fishing there giveing fishing a bad name.

strangley enough its only the ones with criminal backgrounds who seem to get prosecuted,well actually they was one of the police men who went to court for snatching fish back in the middle 80s,just one ! though----policeman-armed robber, they all the same deep down when it comes to snatching fish,all snakes and snides from both sides,i can understand anyone whos skint wanting to make a few ilicit quid,but people in work,well thats different they dont need money,it was the miners strike that accelerated illegal fishing on the Wear back in the "Thatcher days"

[stoater]

Well where to start? And what to say?
Thought the Wear was ticking over quite nicely, .... ?

[Taddy]

well stoater the Wear does tick over nicely, but they a WAR on at Durham at the mo, has been now for a few years.

Its the fly anglers against the course fishermen,basicly where the Barbel reside around ferrens park (the old football ground) is nearly the end of suitable fly water,i say nearly as the bottom end of the sands section meets ferrens park,they sort of merge with each other-meaning the Barbel lads can JUST fish the bottom of the sands,and the Fly men can just fish where the Barbel fishing starts,this=trouble,the Barbel lads dont want fly's wizzing past their lines when bottom fishing for BORIS (Barbel) and same again the fly men dont want 22mm halibut pellets being chuked in the run or glide when fishing the "fly".

Buts its all got out of hand a certain few from both sides have on more than one occaision exchanged more than words,but that still doesnt give anyone the right to indescriminaltly kill course fish cos they in the way of fly angling,ok the origins of the Barbel might be clouded on the Wear,some say indiginous some say not,but anyway theyve been there for some years now the Barbel, so its safe to say they are established,they say the Barbel are only there to replace the now extinct Burbot (Lota Lota) which once inhabited the Wear,and the said anglers from the Barbel side of things who killed some out of season Brownies and a Salmon which was chuked in some bushes to encourage a small maggot farm are well out of order at the same time,but it takes all kinds to make the world go round-just as well they aint many Pike in the Wear cos im sure someone would blame them for low course fish stocks ..

oh and before anyone says that Barbel inhabit the Willow pool and The pink house (now white-ish) its very rare Barbel fishermen fish those areas-reason to leave the fly fishermen to their thing as they put it-pink house,willow pool winter venues for course anglers

[Taddy]

the sign on the wall at Durham says fishing with rod and line is permitted,obveously a mistake,so this means its a council law not a fishing bylaw,otherwise the council wouldnt have put signs round framwellgate dam-waterside,as this is governed by the salmon and freshwater fisheries act 1975,so technicly tyhe E/A have no right to move anyone from fishing the wall its up to the council,the E/A should only intervene if your fishing mannerism is out of order

[stoater]

Sounds a difficult and rather unpleasant situation at Durham. Obviously a Rule preventing angling for migratory fish, with all their instincts, makes sense directly downstream of a major obstruction (to them) or a major holding spot (to fishermen). The risks of unexpected hook-ups(as Americans say) is too high.
Taddy, can you tell us if the seatrout have arrived yet? I@m dying to try the River, have access but would prefer to know that there are in fact fish in the River, in worthwhile quantity.
Had any luck yourself this time?

[Taddy]

yes stoater they are in! theys been one or two caught,from now on it will start to fill up gradually,till about the end of June then it will fill up quuicker,personally speaking Durham and below will be yer best option,till another flood arives,but dont get yer yerself excited with June floods they can be tempramental,July onwards is really when the river comes in to its own,but like i say its well worth a bash at the mo

[sanddancer]

Taddy,

have closer look at the signs on Framwellgate Waterside - the 'no' which precedes 'fishing with rods is permitted' has been painted out - presumably not by the persons who erected the signs.

[zephead]

Shame to see that the war between the coarse anglers and game lads has gotten much worse on the Wear.

Having had the benefit of quite a few years in Ferryhill AC,as a stretch of theirs was a 10 minute walk from the back door at home,as well as keeping a BA ticket on the go simultaneoulsy the ethos of the respective clubs was always the root of the problem with Ferryhill being a course/mixed at best club and BA being solely owners/tenants of game fisheries.

I had a serious go at the committee of Ferryhill years ago,along with other members at the AGM in the Black Bull,when they were going to jack in their stretch at Bellingham on the Tyne as it was seen as an expensive salmon fishery.They then made a proposal to stock it with coarse fish and then have the audacity to propose an additional daily charge for salmon anglers in September and October.There were always lots of complaints at meetings and on the river bank about trout and salmon anglers moving through pools wading down a pace and disrupting the stationery maggot men legering or trotting a float and the last straw for me was turning up to fish at Page Bank and there being three disciples of Ivan Marks camped out under green umbrellas.

I have also seen on a two notable occassions spare live bait being emptied in by their members at the end of a sessions and when I challenged the culprits was told to mind my own business,that I was a spotty youth that knew nowt about things and club rules were meant to be broken and in any event it would return the river and club to being coarse angling orientatated as it was before the over-emphasis on game fish.

IMHO stick to private beats that are double bank if possible,BA and the other clubs with holdings above Page Bank or Chester le Street AC for a go at them fresh off the tide.

And as for mention of Mrs T,hopefully her comrades will be back in soon and enact legislation so many people in Weardale of all political persuasions can enjoy foxhunting,angling, shooting and coursing without fear of molestation and disruption by the green-eyed anti brigade as IMHE its one of the places where percieved boundaries between prince and pitman dissolve in a mutual respect of their chosen quarry.

ZH

[Taddy]

yes im well aware that someones removed some of the writing on the no fishing signs!

[watchinufish]

I've only just been made aware of this thread and have spent a few minutes reading through the posts. I would like to take the opportunity to make a few points of my own. There have been a number of claims over the years regarding how many fish are taken by illegal methods from "The Wall" the most recent by Friends of the Wear salmon" which was up to 200 fish a night during 2006, previous claims by anglers in the know were poachers were taking up to 70 fish a night. The Environment Agency, while recording this information, has always viewed these claims with a certain amount of scepticism. This is based on evidence from their own observations which would indicate nightly catches falling into the single figure bracket. Don't misunderstand me even one fish caught illegally is one fish too many but I'm trying to put it into perspective. The Environment Agency have had numerous successess against illegal fishermen at Framwellgate, and while I note Taddy's comments, emphasise they take no heed of a person's calling or position when dealing with illegal activity.
The bylaw only relates to Fishing from Framwellgate Waterside and does not stop anyone from entering the water by means of the steps and fishing from the river.
Environment Agency bailiffs check licences as part of their normal duties and while having no power to move any persons found fishing from the area covered by the Council Bylaw at Framwellgate Waterside are required to pass on identification details to Durham City Council if an infringement is suspected. Be assured it does not matter who people are or where they are if they are contravening s :otatutory fisheries legislation Environment Agency Officers will take the appropriate action to bring offenders to court . On another note Fish are well up the system now with a number of good sea trout being taken from Ferryhill's water below Sunderland Bridge.
Zephead I may be wrong but I think we know each other quite well. Oh those heady days when you shouted me over for a chicken leg and a can of beer.

[zephead]

Doubt it was me-giving away food,yes but beer,highly unlikely.

You have a pm.

ZH